Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-06-03
tertainment. You are foot II you can.
not see through it. They wdnt yeur

tertainment. You are foot II tou can.
not see through it. They wdnt yeul
money.
In Chestnut street, Philadelphia, while
was living in that city, an incident occurred
which was familiar to ue there. ID Chest
nut street young man went intaa gam
bling saloon, lost all his properly, then
blew his brains out, and before ttb blood
was washed from the floor by thS maids
the comrades were shutting cards again.
You see there is more mercy in th6 high.
wsyman for the belated traveller on whose
body he heaps the stones; there Is more
mercy in the frost for the flower that it
kills. there is more mercy in the hurricane
that shivers the steamer on the Long
Island coast, than there is mercy in the
In tho third watch of the night, also,
drunkenness does its worst. The drinking
will be respectable at 8 o'clock in the even
ing, little flushed at 8. talkativt and gar
rulous at 10. at II blasphemous at II the
hat falls off, at the man falls tp the floor
asking for more drink. Strewl through
the drinking saloons of the city, brothers,
husbands, sons, Us good as you are by
nature, perhaps better.
In the high circles of society it i'd hushed
up. A merchant prince, if he gels noisy
and uncomfortable, is taken by lii fellow
jewellers, who try to get him to bed, or
take him home, where he falls fiat in the
entry. Do not wake up the children.
They have had disgrace enough. Do not
let them know it. Hush it up. But some
times it cannot be hushed up, when tho
rum touches the brain md the man b.
comes thoroughly frenzied. Such o one
came home, having boen absent for some
time, and during his absence his wife had
died, and she lay in the next room pre-
pared for tho obsequies. ana he went in
aud dragged her by the locks, and shook
her out of her shroud, and pitched her out
of the window.
Oh. when rum touches the brain you
cannot hush it up. My friends, you see
all around about you the need that some
thing radical be done. You do not see the
worst. In the midnight meetings at
London great multitude has been saved.
We want few hundred Christian men and
women to come down from the highest
circles of society to toll amid these wan
dering and destitute cnes and k;ndle up n
light in the dark alley, even the gladness
of heaven.
Do not go wrapped in your fine furs and
from your wel-tillcd tables with the idea
that pious talkis going to stop the gnaw-
ing Of an empty stomach or to warm stock
ingless feet. Take bread, take raiment,
take medicine as we'll as take prayer. There
is great deal Of common sense in what
the poor woman said to the CITY missionary
when he was telling her how she ought to
love God ami serve Him. "Oh," she said,
IF you were as poor and cold as am, and
as hungry, you could think of nothing
else."
A great deal of what is called Christian
work goes for nothing, for the simple rea-
son it is not practical; as after the battle
of Antietam man got out of an ambu-
lance with a bag of tracts, and ho went
distributing the tracts, and George Stuart,
one Of the best Christian men in this
country, said to him: "What are you dis
tributing tracts for nov? There are 5000
men bleeding to death. Bind up their
wounds and then distribute the tracts"
We want more common sense in Chris
tian work, taking the bread of this life in
one hand and the bread Of the next life in
the other hand. No such inapt work as
that dene by the Christian man who, dur
ing the last war, went into hospital with
tracts, and, coming to the bed of man
whose legs had been amputated, gave him
a tract on the sin of dancing. I rejoice be-
fore God that never are sympathetic words
uttered, never prayer offered, never o
Christian almsgiving INDUCED in butt is
blessed.
There is place in Switzerland, nave
been told, where the utterance of enc word
will bring back score Of echoes; and
have to tell you this morning that SYM
pathetic word, kind word, generous
word, helpful word uttered in the dark
places Of the town will bring back 10000
al -
Are there in this assemblage this mcrn-
ing those who know by experience the
tragedies in the third watch Of the night?
am not here to thrust YOU back with one
hard word. Take the bandnge from your
bruised soul and put on it the soothing
satve of Christ's gospel and of Gods COM
passion. Many have come. I see others
coming to God this morning, tired of the
sinful life. Cry mp the news to heaven.
Set all the bells ringing. Spread the
banquet under the arches. Let the crowned
heads come down and sit at the jubilee.
tell you there is more delight in heaven
over one man that gets reformed by the
grace of God than over ninety and nine
that never got Off the track.
I could give you the history, in minute,
of one of tho best friends ever had. Out
side of my own family, never had better
friend. He welcomed mo to my home at
the West. He was Of splendid personal
appearance, but he had an ardor of soul
and a warmth OF affection that made me
love him like brother. I saw men COM
ing out of the saloons and gambling bells,
and they surrounded my friend, and they
took him at the weak point, his social
nature; and 1 saw him going down, and I
had a fair talk with him-for ] never vet
saw man you could not talk with on the
subject of his habits. if you talked with
him in the right way. I said to him: "Why
don't you give up your bad habits and be-
come Christian?" I remember now lust
how he looked, leaning over the counter, as
he replied: II wish I could. Oh, sir,
1 should like to be Christian, but I have
gone SO far astray l can't get back"
So the time went on. After awhile the
day Of sickness came. Twas summoned to
his sick bed. fastened. 1t took me but
very few moments to get there. was
surprised as went in. I saw him in his
ordinary dress, fully dressed, lying on top
of the bed. gave him my hand, and he
seized it convulsively, and snid: sob, how
glad am to see you! Sit down there,n
sat down and he said: "Mr. Talmage, lust
where you sit now my mother sat last night.
She has been dead twenty years. Now !
dent want you to think nm out of my
mind, or that I am superstitious; but, sir,
she sat there last night just as certainly as
you sit there now-the same cap and apron
and spectacles. 1t was my old mother
she sat there" Then he turned to his
wife. and said: II wish you would take
fhoco otr;,uc off Tho bo6. :,